Bottled Water

I know bottled water is NOT good - on all fronts. I really do try not to buy bottled water but will be honest and say I have/do buy it if it is a choice between soda or water - I choose water. My kids usually choose water. I believe I can say we have broke the habit and that is the biggest step. So, I took the Pledge.

Break the BottledWater Habit Pledge
I pledge to Break the Bottled Water Habit
by Thinking Outside the Bottle and using a reusable water bottle instead of
buying bottled water. I also pledge to support the efforts of local officials to
stop spending public funds on bottled water and prioritize strong public water
systems over bottled water profits.

Why?

Disposable plastic water bottles are not meant for multiple uses.The #1 polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is fine for a single use, but reuse can lead to bacterial growth and leaching of dangerous chemicals. We have heard this MANY times, especially leaving the bottles in a hot car, refilling, etc. Bad - Bad - Bad!

Bottled water is full of oil. Making bottles to meet Americans’ demand for bottled water requires more than 1.5 million barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel some 100,000 cars for a year. (NY Times) To put it another way, the entire energy costs of the lifecycle of a bottle of water is equivalent, on average, to filling up a quarter of each bottle with oil. (Pacific Institute) Ack! I did NOT know this but I am not surprised.

Bottled water is expensive! Drinking the recommended daily amount of water using bottled water can cost an average of $1,400 per year; drinking the same amount from the tap costs around 49 cents for the year. (NY Times) I did know this - it is very expensive!!!

Your tap water is fine to drink. Tap water is more highly regulated than bottled water and over 90 percent of water systems meet EPA's standards for tap water quality. (If the taste or color is a little off from your tap, your pipes are probably at fault—a simple filtration system should do the trick to take both aesthetic problems away.) We got a REIONATOR water conditioner last year and LOVE LOVE LOVE it. It has really made a difference in our laundry, dishes, cleaning and health.

At least 40 percent of bottled water is tap water anyway. That’s right: you are paying a huge premium on water that you could have just gotten from your tap in the first place. (Natural Resources Defense Council) This is something we have suspected for years. There is no way to know that it is better water - and it isn't.

If you want to see what a difference you can make, check out the calculator and watch in amazement!

I think I have decided on one of these for my Christmas list. What do you think? I think maybe we need one of each color to always have one handy.... one for the car and one for me.

Seriously, how aware are you of the bottled water epedemic that has us spending money on something we already own? Have you already done something about it? Are you going to? Not going to? Why/Why not?